Monday, February 10, 2014

Don’t go to papal Mass because it’s on a tourist itinerary, says Francis

An invitation to attend Pope Francis’s early morning Mass is a hot
ticket in Rome, but the Pope said today that Mass – in his residence or
anywhere else – isn’t an event, but a time for entering into the mystery
of God.

“Maybe someone would say: ‘Oh, I must get to Mass at Sanctae Marthae
because the Pope’s morning Mass is on the Rome tourist itinerary’”, he
said, according to a report by Vatican Radio.

Addressing those gathered for the Mass , he said: “All of you come
here, all of us gather here to enter into a mystery, which is the
liturgy. It is God’s time, it is God’s space, it is God’s cloud that
envelops us all.”

Throughout history, God has spoken to his people in different ways:
through prophets, priests and the Scriptures, the pope said. But the
Bible also tells of special moments, “theophanies”, when God is present
in a more direct way.

The Mass is one of those occasions when the Lord is present, Pope
Francis said. The Mass isn’t a social occasion or even “a prayer
meeting. It’s something else. In the liturgy, God is present.”

Pope Francis said that when Catholics construct a Nativity scene,
pray the rosary or participate in the Stations of the Cross, they are
remembering historical events, which helps them to pray.

But the Mass is something different, it’s not a re-enactment of the
Last Supper, he said. “It is the Last Supper. It is living again the
Passion and redeeming death of the Lord. It is a theophany: the Lord is
present on the altar to be offered to the Father for the salvation of
the world.”

The Pope said it’s not right for people to look at their watches
during Mass. “We must put ourselves there, in God’s time and space,
without looking at our watches,” he said.